3 INTRODUCTION WHAT IS RETAIL?

The word retail is, in fact, derived from the French word retailer, which means to cut off a piece or to break bulk.A retailer may be defined as a dealer or trader whorepeatedly sells good in small quantities.The sale of goods or commodities in small quantities directly to consumers. Of, relatingto, or engaged in the sale of goods or commodities at retail. It also means to sell insmall quantities directly to consumers. RETAIL The sale of goods individually or in small quantities to the public to sell or besold in small quantities to the public. Retailing consists of the sale of goods or merchandise from a fixed location, suchas a department store or kiosk, or by post, in small or individual lots for directconsumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services,such as delivery. The sale of goods directly to the consumer; To sell at retail, or in small quantitiesdirectly to customers; To repeat or circulate (news or rumors) to others; Of, orrelating to the sale of goods directly to the customer; In retail quantities, or atretail prices To sell directly to the consumer, usually in small quantities in comparison with thetotal level of sale. Any product for sale in a store or directly to a consumer. Trade in which a client buys or sells an over-the-counter stock through a broker-dealer.

Merchants selling tangible goods in a face-to-face environment who normally useconventional terminals and swipe transactions. TYPES OF RETAIL SECTOR Retailing is one of the pillars of the economy in India and accounts for 35% of GDP. Theretail industry is divided into organized and unorganized sectors. Over 12 million outletsoperate in the country and only 4% of them being larger than 500 sq ft (46 m 2 ) in size. Organized Retail Unorganized Retail ORGANIZED RETAIL Organized retailing refers to trading activities undertaken by licensed retailers, that is,those who are registered for sales tax, income tax, etc. These include the corporate-backed hypermarkets and retail chains, and also the privately owned large retailbusinesses.Organized retail segment has been growing at a blistering pace, exceeding all previousestimates. According to a study by Deloitte Haskins and Sells, organized retail hasincreased its share from 5 per cent of total retail sales in 2006 to 8 per cent in 2007. Thefastest growing segments have been the wholesale cash and carry stores (150 percent) followed by supermarkets (100 per cent) and hypermarkets (75-80 per cent).Further, it estimates the organized segment to account for 25 per cent of the total salesby 2011. UNORGANIZED RETAIL Unorganized retailing, on the other hand, refers to the traditional formats of low-costretailing, for example, the local kirana shops, owner manned general stores, paan/beedishops, convenience stores, hand cart and pavement vendors, etc.Unorganized retailing is defined as an outlet run locally by the owner or caretaker of ashop that lacks technical and accounting standardization

. The supply chain and sourcing are also done locally to meet local needs. Its organized counterpart may notobtain its supplies from local sources. Difference between organized and unorganized retailing The major differences between organized and unorganized retailing lies in its number(chain) of store operations. An unorganized outlet may be just stand alone or can havemaximum of 2-3 outlets in a city, where as the organized outlets are "any retail chain(more than two outlets)which is professionally managed (even if its family run), has aaccounting transparency (with proper usage of MIS and accounting standards) andorganized SCM with centralized quality control and sourcing (certain parts can be locallymade) can be termed as an "organized retailing" in India.Retailing in India is predominantly unorganized. According to a survey by AT Kearney,an overwhelming proportion of the Rs. 400,000 crore retail market is UNORGANISED.In fact, only a Rs. 20,000 crore segment of the market is organized.We are known as a nation of shopkeepers with over 12 million, the highest outletdensity in the world in the world with an estimated turnover of $ 200 billion. However adisturbing point here is that as much as 96 per cent of them are smaller than 500square feet in area. This means that India per capita retailing space is about 2 squarefeet (compared to 16 square feet in the United States). India's per capita retailing spaceis thus the lowest in the world. Another point to note is that only 8 % of our population isengaged in Retail whereas the global average is around 10-12%